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Are Bots Ready For Banking?

Should banks wait for technology to advance before deploying a bot? We find out if bots are ready to be bankers . . .

Chatbots are slowly and steadily taking over the Digital World, however, the big question is – Are Bots ready for Banking? It is one thing to use a bot to shoot out a tweet and another to entrust your money to a chatbot to transfer funds. Let’s find out if chatbots are ready to handle the high-stakes world of managing people’s money.

Banks are Wowed by Bots

It is true that banks are truly enticed by this new little chatty box that can chat with customers but very few are taking the plunge to add the bot to their digital strategy as with banks the stakes are a lot higher and the risks are greater too.

That said, it is exciting times for banks, as bots promise to make use of AI, predictive analytics and cognitive messaging that will help customers make payments, check their balances and even offer advice on saving money. Machine learning is here to stay. It will allow banks and financial services companies to cut costs and scale up to offer customers a personalised and always-on service wherever they are.

Not only are chat bots an excellent way to reduce the cost/income ratio, bots also don’t require a salary, paid time off or health insurance and they are available to deal with multiple customers all 365 days of the year. Deploying bots not only allows financial services companies to reduce their head counts but also enables the employees to focus on more complex work.

Banking Bot for customers and employees

Bots are here to cater not only to customer needs but also to improve employee’s workflows. Bots allow banking employees to seamlessly report issues, find information, pull reports and much more. The Bot also assists sales reps to exceed customer expectations and deliver outstanding selling experience. Sales reps can easily view manager’s pipeline info when it changes or someone asks. Banks can now empower their staff with a better way to use CRM, with consistent, simplified mobile and cross-channel UX that the banking bot offers. Complex data entry can be turned into simple conversations and allows instant lead and opportunity updates. From improving productivity to cutting costs to enhancing customer service, the bot is here to revolutionise the way the banking industry functions.

Bots need time to learn?

The real concern today is that the customer experience is not the very best with bots. AI is at a basic level and only with time and intensive machine learning will this advance. It is true that AI hasn’t quite arrived at the point where it can really carry on a conversation and always give a customer what they are demanding. The current generation of bots can act in unexpected ways and can be high risk considering that bots are providing advice regarding finance and moreover even transferring funds. In addition, today’s AI is not known to understand emotions or empathise with the customer. So, do we need to give AI, some more time to learn? The answer is, YES. Give the bots some time and they will be able to spot spelling errors, understand the way humans process enquiries, learn colloquialisms and more.

So, should banks wait?

The catch here is that banks, as well as banking customers, want a bot that has already learned it all. However, the real learning for a bot happens only once they start dealing with customers.

So, do banks need to wait?

NO, because the sooner your banking bot is out there, the more it will learn, imbibe and advance to offer your customers the perfect customer experience.

Banks need to step up, adopt the new technology and reach out to their customers, millennials and alike through channels they prefer communicating in. Do it now or risk losing out this immense opportunity that your competitors are keen to leave their footprint on. Adpot, learn and step and make your bank’s presence known on the new cyberspace of texting and chatting.

Gearing up for tomorrow

Exciting times lay ahead for banks and they need to gear up to stay ahead of the competition. “Chat technology is developing and improving by the day but I can confidently say that today it is mature enough to be adopted by banks and used in the real world. It is time for financial institutions to leverage on the bot technology and create a first mover advantage to retain as well as attract new customers,” says Suresh Kumar, CEO of Avenir Business Solutions that has built the Avenir Banking BOT (also available on Temenos MarketPlace).

Whilst the global race for banks to be ‘digital first’ is on, choosing the right bot technology partner is equally important. This is where Avenir Business Solutions steps in, with a deep financial industry acumen combined with digital transformation and AI enabled bot building capability, this company promises to be the perfect technology partner. Chatbot services and bots are already at the core of some companies’ business models, it’s their way to amp up their customer service; how about yours?

Avenir Business Solutions, Headquarted in the UK is a Technology company serving Enterprises globally and is an exclusive KORE Messaging & Bots solution partner. We have recently launched the Avenir Banking Bot.

As a keen Digital Marketer, Ansy plays a key role in strategising and implementing marketing activities for Avenir Business Solutions, an IT company headquartered in the UK with a global presence in India and Middle East. Avenir excels in building and customising intelligent NLP enabled bots. With her deep understanding of business trends and the need for marrying technological advancements with business processses, Ansy enables enterpises to use bots to their competitive advantage as we head on to a fully automated age. She has completed her MBA from University of Bath and also comes with a background of rich experience working for 7 years with an international news media company.